election night win over republican rivalmittromney. california'spublic education system was saved from severe budget cuts with the november passage of governor brown's proposition 30, but voters didn't say yes to all taxes. an attempt to tax soda in richmond failed, as did a statewide tobacco tax on the june ballot. new districts drawn by a citizens commission and the voter-approved top two primary system shook up races for congress and the state legislature, putting a record number of freshmen in the assembly and giving democrats a rare supermajority in sacramento. it was the beginning of realignment of the state's criminal justice system, and voters approved reform of the state's tough three strikes sentencing law. the economy sputtered but finally showed signs of improvement in the housing and job market, but in silicon valley, the highly anticipated facebook ipo fell flat. the city of stockton made headlines as the largest city in the u.s. to ever file for bankruptcy. and a deadly shooting at oikos university in oakland left seven people dead and a community in shock. and obama car